NEW  SEPJES.— BI-MONTHLY 


THE 


NEW  ENGLANDER 


M  A  RCH,    18  80 


Vol.    III.— No.    14. 


XULLIUS  ADDICTUS  JURAKE  IN  VERBA  ilAOISTRI. 


AGENTS  : 

AMERICAN   NEWS  CO.,  39  &  41  Chambers  St..  New  York  City. 
M.  S AFFORD  &  CO.,  NORWICH,  Conn. 
A.  WILLIAMS  &  CO.,  283  Washington  St..  Boston,  Mass. 
TRUBXEli  &  CO..  57   and  59  Ludgate  Hill,  London,  E.  C. 


NEW    HAVEN: 
W.   L.    KIXGSLEY,   PROPRIETOR   AND   PUBLISHER. 


TUTTLE,  MOREHOUSE,  AND  TAYLOR,   PRINTERS. 
1880. 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  MARCH   NUMBER. 


Art.  I.  Mr.  Mallock  aud  his  Critic.  Rev.  Jotham  Sewall.  Jr.  153 

II.  New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century. 

Rev.  I.  N.  Tarbox,  D.D.  17  1 

III.  Edwin  Arnold's  Light  of  Asia.  Hon.  Henry  C.  Robinson.  198 

IV.  The  Xational  Council.                                      Rev.  George  M.  Boynton.  215 
V.  A  Chapter  of  Maine  History.                           Rev.  George  T.  Packard.  233 

Article  VI.— NOTICES   OF    NEW    BOOKS. 
Taxes  de  la  Penitencerie  Apostolique,  d'apres  l'fidition  publiee  a  Paris  en 

1520.  etc.     Par  A.  Dupin  de  St.  Andre.  27  1 
The  Keys  of  Sect:  or.  the  Church  of  the  New  Testament  compared  with  the 

Sects  of  modern  Christendom.     By  Julian  M.  Sturteyant,  D.D.,  LL.D.  272 

The  Bible  Doctrine  of  Man.     By  John  Laidlaw.  M.A.  273 
The  History  of  the  Passion  and  Resurrection  of  our  Lord  considered  in  the 

light  of  modern  criticism.     By  Dr.  F.  L.  Steinmeyer.  275 
Endless  punishment   in   the  very  words  of  its  Advocates.     By  Thomas  J. 

Sawyer.   S.T.D.  270 

Sermons  Parochial  and  Occasional.     By  J.  P.  Mozley,  D  D.  277 

The  Life  of  Christ.     By  Rev.  James  Stalker,  M.A.  277 

The  Emotions.     By  James  McCosh,  D.I).,  LL.D.  277 

New  and  complete  edition  of  Dr.  McCosh's  Vorks.  278 

The  Pathology  of  Mind.     By  Henry  Maudsley,  M.D.  279 
A  System  of  Moral  Science.     By  Laurens  P.  Ilickok,  D.D..  LL.D.     Revised 

with  the  cooperation  of  Julius  H.  Seelye,  D.D.,  LL.D.  279 
Of  Mr.  Spencer's  Formula  of  Evolution,  as  an  exhaustive  statement  of  the 

Changes  of  the  Universe.     By  Malcolm  Guthrie.  279 
The  Faith  of  Reason  :  a  series  of  Discourses  on  the  leading  topics  of  Religion. 

By  John  V".  Chadwick.  280 
Memoir  of   Henry  Armitt  Brown,   together  with   four   Historical  Oratious. 

Edited  by  J.  M.  Hqppin.  281 
The  Letters   of   Charles   Pickens.      Edited  by  his  sister-in-law  aud  eldest 

daughter.     In  two  volumes.  288 
Memoirs   of    Prince    Mettcrnich,    1773-1815.      Edited   by    Prince    Richard 

Metternich  ;  translated  by  Mrs.  Alexander  Napier.  289 

"  The  New  Plutarch,"  Gaspard  de  Coligny.     By  Walter  Besant.  M.A.  291 
Times  before  the  Reformation,  with  an  account  of  Fra  Girolamo  Savonarola. 

By  William  Didwiddie,  LL.B.  292 
Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  the  Church  Universal,  from  the  days  of  the  Success- 
ors of  the  Apostles  to  the  present  time.  My  Dr.  F.  Piper.  293 
The  Reader's  Handbook  of  the  American  Revolution.  By  Justin  Winsor.  295 
The  Exploration  of  the  World.  By  Jules  Verne.  296 
The  Autobiography  and  Correspondence  of  Mrs.  Belany.  B]  S.  C.  Woolsey.  296 
Chronological  History  of  Plants:    Man's  Record  of  his  own  existence  illus- 

trated    through    their    names,    uses,    and    companionship.       By    Charles 

Bickering.  M.D.  291 

All  quiet  along  the  Potomac,  and  other  poems,      By  Ethel  Lynn  Beers.  298 

[Jarda:   A  Romance  of  Anoient  Egypt.     Bj  Georg  Kbors.  299 

Along  the  Way.      By  Mary  Mapes  I  lodge.  302 

The  Pre-histone  World.     Bj  Elie  Berthet.  302 

The  Transmission  of  I, ifc.     By  George  II.  Napheys.  303 

The  Merry-go-round.     By  It.  W.  Raymond.  304 


THE 


NEW    ENGLANDER 


No.   CLV. 


MARCH,    18  80, 


^jSToFrawfe 


JAN  30  1933 


id  /  New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.   [March, 


Article    II.— NEW    ENGLAND    POETRY    OF    THE 
SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY. 

It  is  an  old  and  common  saying,  that  the  earliest  literature  of 
a  people  appears  in  the  form  of  poetry.  The  bards  and  min- 
strels begin  to  sing,  long  before  the  historians  and  philosophers 
enter  upon  their  sober  and  stately  work.  Homer  was  the 
bright  morning  star,  heralding  the  long  and  splendid  day  of 
Grecian  literature  and  art.  Centuries  before  the  great  scholars 
of  Germany  started  upon  their  learned  activities,  the  Nibelun- 
genlied,  with  its  wild  tales  of  love  aud  war,  had  been  sounding 
out  from  the  cold  forests  of  the  north. 

But  while  this  may  stand,  as  a  kind  of  fixed  law,  with  races, 
passing  on  from  a  semi-barbarous  state,  toward  a  high  civiliza- 
tion ;  the  case  is  quite  otherwise  with  nations,  which  grow  up 
from  colonies,  transplanted  from  civilized  lands,  to  rude  and 
inhospitable  shores.  Here  the  earliest  movements,  so  far  as  the 
finer  forms  of  literature  are  concerned,  will,  almost  inevitably, 
be  retrograde.  The  early  life  of  such  colonies  is  so  intensely 
practical,  the  struggle  with  wild  nature  is  so  rough  and  long- 
continued,  that  poetry,  a  tender  plant,  withers  under  the  harsh 
experiences.  It  is  reserved  for  the  men  of  a  later  age,  dwell- 
ing in  quiet  ease  and  security,  to  catch  the  romantic  aspects  of 
this  hard  life  and  sing  the  deeds  of  the  fathers  in  fitting  and 
lofty  strains. 

In  the  year  1629,  when  those  first  ship-loads  of  Puritans 
were  landing  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  organizing  their 
church  at  Salem,  John  Milton  was  a  student  in  Cambridge 
Universit}'.  In  that  very  year,  about  Christmas  time,  being 
then  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  wrote  his  "  Ode  on  the 
Nativitv,'"  which  stands,  to-day,  as  one  of  the  choicest  gems  of 
English  poetry.  During  the  next  thirty-five  years,  while  the 
New  England  fathers  were  struggling  with  the  complicated 
problems  of  Church  and  State,  subduing  an  untamed  wilder- 
ness, and  playing  ;i  game  of  diplomacy  with  the  mother  coun- 
try, Milton  was  writing  "L' Allegro"  and  "  II Penseroso,"  till 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.  lib 

at  length,  out  of  blindness  and  darkness,  came  forth  the  immor- 
tal epic,  Paradise  Lost.  Many  of  the  great  master  pieces  of 
English  literature  were  already  old  in  the  infancy  of  New 
England.  The  early  books  of  Spenser's  Fairie  Queen  had 
been  public  in  the  English  world  for  nearly  forty  years  when 
John  Winthrop  landed  at  Charlestovvn.  The  early  plays  of 
Shakespeare  had  been  upon  the  stage  nearly  the  same  length  of 
time.  The  Puritans  did  not  probably  feed  much  upon  Shakes- 
peare, but  the  Fairie  Queen  had  nothing  in  it  to  demoralize  the 
minds  of  their  children. 

The  early  settlers  of  New  England  came  therefore  from  a 
country  already  rich  in  the  treasures  of  literature,  and  they 
themselves  were  not  illiterate.  Many  of  them  left  high  and  re- 
sponsible positions  in  their  native  land,  and  not  a  few  of  the 
leading  men  had  enjoyed  the  thorough  culture  of  the  English 
universities. 

Passing  by  for  the  present  all  occasional  attempts  at  poetical 
production  in  the  early  days,  we  will  confine  ourselves,  at 
first,  only  to  such  efforts  in  this  line  as  resulted  in  published 
volumes. 

The  first  systematic  attempt  at  something  like  poetry  on 
these  New  England  shores,  was  when,  in  1639,  the  Puritan 
fathers  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  thought  they  must  have  a 
Psalm-Book,  native  and  original.  We  say  something  like  poetry, 
for  the  very  conditions  of  the  enterprise  forbade  all  sponta- 
neity and  poetical  freedom.  Tiie  good  people  of  that  sober 
age  used  no  hymns  in  their  Sabbath  worship,  and,  if  it  had 
been  convenient,  would  much  have  preferred  to  sing  the  Psalms 
of  David  precisely  as  they  found  them  in  their  Bible.  But  some 
rhythmical  arrangement  was  necessary  to  prevent  utter  confusion 
and  chaos  in  their  congregational  singing.  There  was  a  public 
demand,  having  all  the  force  of  a  law,  requiring  of  those  who 
undertook  such  a  task  that  they  should  indulge  in  no  flights  of 
fancy,  but  keep  themselves,  as  near  as  possible,  to  the  exact- 
words  of  the  original.  When  the  Puritans  left  England,  what- 
ever else  might  be  overlooked,  their  Bibles  were  not  forgotten. 
In  those  Bibles,  bound  in  at  the  end,  were  the  Psalms,  in  \he 
version  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  then  in  use  in  the  parish 
churches  of  England.     This  metrical  version  was  in  a  much 


176         New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.   [March, 

more  comely  shape  than  the  early  settlers  in  the  Bay  would  be 
likely  to  give  it.  But  our  Fathers  had  planted  their  college  at 
Cambridge,  in  1638,  and  the  first  class  of  nine  members  were 
now  entered  upon  their  course  of  study.  They  had  evidently 
come  to  stay,  and  to  build  a  new  Commonwealth  in  the  earth, 
and  what  should  hinder  them  from  having  a  Psalm-Book  of 
their  own  ?  So,  in  1639,  the  ministers  and  magistrates  chose 
out  three  men,  whom  they  deemed  fit,  and  gave  this  work 
specially  into  their  hands.  The  three  were  Richard  Mather  of 
Dorchester,  John  Eliot  of  Roxbury,  and  Thomas  Welde,  Eliot's 
colleague  in  the  ministry.  These  men  were  of  good  scholarship 
and  sound  judgment,  but  without  any  apparent  fitness  for  a 
work  of  this  peculiar  kind.  Moreover,  the  nature  of  their  task 
compelled  them  to  move  in  a  kind  of  poetical  tread-mill. 

Hardly  any  man  of  those  early  New  England  days  handled 
a  more  facile  and  vigorous  pen  than  Richard  Mather.  In- 
deed, he  became  a  kind  of  general  scribe  in  the  Bay.  From 
him  came  the  draft  of  the  famous  Cambridge  Platform,  and 
many  other  important  public  papers.  John  Eliot  was  a  man  of 
good  learning,  though,  intellectually,  not  the  equal  of  Mather. 
But  his  heart  was  large,  his  emotional  nature  strong,  and  his 
name  is  embalmed  forever  for  his  self-denying  toils  in  behalf  of 
the  wild  men  of  the  forest.  We  know  less  of  Thomas  Welde. 
He  came  over  in  1632  and  went  back  in  1641,  no  more  to  re- 
turn. These  men  set  themselves  promptly  to  the  appointed 
task,  and  in  1640  produced  what  is  now  known  among  us  as 
the  Bay  Psalm-Book.  This,  however,  is  only  a  conventional 
name,  used  to  distinguish  that  first  edition  from  the  revised  edi- 
tions that  followed.  On  the  title-page  it  reads,  "  The  Whole 
Book  of  Psalms  faithfully  translated  into  English  Metre." 
The  book  was  published  the  same  year  (1640)  and  was  the  first 
book  printed  in  New  England.  Gov.  Winthrop,  in  his  journal 
under  date  of  March,  1639-40,  tells  us :  "A  printing  house 
was  begun  at  Cambridge  by  one  Daye,  at  the  charge  of  Mr. 
Glover,  who  died  on  sea  hitherward.  The  first  thing  which 
was  printed  was  the  freeman's  oath  ;  the  next  was  an  almanac 
for  New  England,  by  Mr.  William  Pierce  Mariner;  the  next 
was  the  Psalms,  newly  turned  into  metre." 

This  book  had  free  course  for  about  seven  years,  when  it  was 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.         177 

submitted  to  a  revision,  under  the  charge  of  President  Dunster, 
of  Harvard  College,  who  was  assisted  by  Mr.  Richard  Lyon,  a 
good  scholar,  fresh  over  from  England.  It  was  doubtless  im- 
proved by  this  operation,  but  was  yet  exceedingly  rough  and 
antique.  However  it  had  a  wonderful  fortune,  for  in  its  vari- 
ous revisions  and  under  the  general  name  of  the  New  England 
Psalm-Book,  it  passed  through  an  immense  number  of  editions, 
and  held  its  place  in  the  churches  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years.  It  had,  besides,  the  honor  of  being  extensively  used  in 
the  dissenting  churches  of  England  and  Scotland. 

Judged  by  any  standards  now  recognized  among  us,  this 
piece  of  work  would  be  called  exceedingly  coarse  and  even  out- 
landish. Men  setting  themselves  about  such  a  task  as  this, 
would  be  likely  to  do  as  well,  at  the  outset,  as  they  knew  how, 
even  though  they  might  afterward  make  some  unfortunate 
lapses.  To  show,  therefore,  how  they  started  off,  we  will  give 
their  translation  of  the  first  two  verses  of  the  first  Psalm  : 

1.  "  0  blessed  man,  that  in  th'  advice 

of  wicked  doeth  not  walk  ; 
nor  stand  in  sinner8  way,  nor  sit 
in  chayre  of  scornfull  folk. 

2.  "  But  in  the  law  of  Iehovah 

is  his  longing  delight ; 
and  in  his  law  doth  meditate 
by  day  and  eke  by  night." 

In  the  version  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  which  these  wise 
and  faithful  men  rejected,  we  have  those  grandly  rolling  lines, 
as  a  part  of  the  eighteenth  Psalm  : 

"  The  Lord  descended  from  above, 

and  bowed  the  heavens  hie ; 
And  underneath  his  feet  he  cast 

the  darkuesse  of  the  skie  : 
On  Cherubs  and  on  Cherubims 

full  royally  he  rode, 
And  on  the  wings  of  all  the  windes 

came  flying  all  abroad." 

But  this  was  too  flighty  and  earthly-minded,  not  literal 
enough.     So  the  New  England  versifiers  put  it  thus  : 

9.  "  Likewise  the  heavens  he  downe-bow'd 
and  he  descended,  and  there  was 
under  his  feet  a  gloomy  cloud. 


178  New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.    [March, 

10.  "  And  he  on  cherub  rode,  and  flew, 
yen.  he  flew  on  the  wings  of  winde." 

The  Bay-Psalm  Book  is  now  simply  a  great  literary  curi- 
osity. Any  one  who  owns  a  perfect  and  well  bound  copy  of 
the  book  may  sell  it,  if  lie  chooses,  for  a  price  ranging  some- 
where between  $1,000  and  $2,000,  and  the  man  who  buys  it 
will  have  in  possession  as  many  false  rhymes  and  measures  as 
are  likely  to  be  fouud  in  any  book  of  its  size. 

When  these  three  learned  divines  were  puzzling  their  heads 
over  the  Psalms,  and  trying,  in  vain,  to  make  the  lines  come 
out  correctly,  in  metre  and  rhyme,  there  was  a  young  woman, 
in  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  more  competent,  apparently,  than 
they  for  this  task.  Anne  Dudley,  daughter  of  Gov.  Thomas 
Dudley,  was  born  in  England,  in  1612,  and  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen was  married  to  Simon  Bradstreet.  Two  years  later,  in 
1630,  with  her  father  and  husband,  both  destined  to  be  deputy- 
governors,  and  governors  in  the  Massachusetts  Ba}',  she  came 
to  these  shores.  She  was  twenty-seven  years  old  when  the 
Psalm-Book  business  was  on  the  docket,  and  if  she  had  been 
called  to  try  her  hand  at  it,  though  she  might  not  have  known 
quite  so  much  about  the  original  Hebrew,  she  would  doubtless 
have  turned  English  prose  into  English  verse  in  more  harmo- 
nious numbers.  We  do  not  think  quite  so  highly  of  her 
poetry  as  the  second  Mr.  John  Norton,  Minister  of  Hiugham, 
did,  who  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  Virgil  could  have  heard 
the  strains  she  sung,  he  would  have  condemned  his  own  works 
to  the  flames.  This  is  silly  exaggeration.  But  that  she  knew 
something  of  the  law  and  the  movement  of  verse,  and  that  she 
bad  some  touches  of  the  Promethian  fire,  a  few  examples  will 
show. 

The  first  edition  of  her  poems  was  published  in  London,  in 
1650.  Rev.  John  Woodbridge,  of  Andover,  was  her  brother- 
in-law,  having  married  her  sister,  Mercy  Dudley.  Mr.  Wood- 
bridge,  going  to  England  in  1647,  is  supposed  to  have  taken 
with  him  the  manuscript  copy  of  her  poems,  the  accumulations 
of  some  twenty  years.  He  was  probably  responsible  for  the 
audacious  title  page  by  which  the  volume  was  introduced  to 
the  public.      It  reads  after  this  fashion  : 

"The  reniii  Musi'  lately  sprung  up  in  America:  or  General 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.         179 

Poems  compiled  with  great  variety  of  wit  and  learning,  full  of 
delight :  wherein  especially  is  contained  a  complete  Discourse 
of  the  Four  Elements,  Constitutions,  Ages  of  Man,  Seasons  of 
the  Year,  Together  with  an  Exact  Epitome  of  the  Four  Mon- 
archies, viz.  the  Assyrian,  Persian,  Grecian,  Roman.  Also  a 
Dialogue  between  Old  England  and  New  concerning  the  late 
troubles,  with  divers  other  pleasant  and  serious  Poems.  By  a 
Gentlewoman  in  those  parts." 

The  longest  poem,  is,  perhaps,  the  most  prosaic,  but,  at  the 
same  time,  the  most  learned.  It  reveals  a  wide  range  of  read- 
ing. The  number  four  figures  in  it,  like  the  sacred  number 
seven  among  the  Jews.  From  a  far  shorter  poem,  entitled 
Contemplations,  we  take  two  stanzas  that  will  more  creditably 
represent  her  poetic  gifts  : 

"  Then  higher  on  the  glittering  sun  I  gazed, 
Whose  beams  were  shaded  by  the  leavie  tree, 
The  more  I  looked  the  more  I  grew  amazed, 
And  softly  said  :  what'  glory  like  to  thee  ? 
Lord  of  this  world,  this  universe3  eye, 
No  wonder  some  made  thee  a  deity 
Had  I  Dot  better  known,  (alas)  the  same  had  I. 

•'  Art  thou  so  full  of  glory  that  no  eye 
Hath  strength  thy  shining  rays  once  to  behold  ? 
And  is  thy  splendid  throne  erect  so  high 
As  to  approach  it  can  no  earthly  mould  ? 
How  full  of  glory  then  must  thy  Creator  be 
Who  gave  this  bright  light  lustre  unto  thee  ? 
Admired,  adored  forever,  be  that  Majesty." 

Another  stanza,  from  the  same  poem,  presents  our  good  mother 
Eve  in  a  somewhat  fresh  and  original  light : 

"  Here  sits  our  Grandame  in  retired  place, 
And  in  her  lap,  her  bloody  (Jain,  new  born, 
The  weeping  imp  oft  looks  her  in  the  face, 
Bewails  his  unknown  hap  and  fate  forlorn  ; 
His  mother  sighs  to  think  of  Paradise 
And  how  she  lost  her  bliss  to  be  more  wise 
Believing  him  that  was,  and  is,  Father  of  lyes." 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  this  first  book  of  poetry,  issuing 
from  New  England,  was  a  remarkable  one,  considering  the  time 
and  circumstances  in  which  it  was  written.  Whatever  its 
merits,  it    certainly  had  a    noteworthy  history.      Mrs.    Brad- 


180         New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.   [March, 

street  died  in  1672.  Six  years  after  her  death,  in  1678,  a  sec- 
ond edition  of  the  work  appeared,  having  the  advantage  of 
changes  and  additions  which  she  herself  had  made.  Eighty 
years  later,  in  1758,  a  third  edition  was  published.  Twelve 
years  ago,  in  1867,  her  writings,  in  prose  and  verse,  edited  by 
John  Harvard  Ellis,  and  published  in  Charlestown  by  Abram 
E.  Cutter,  appeared  in  a  large  and  magnificent  volume,  which, 
we  fancy,  is  not  widely  circulated  or  known.  In  this  work  her 
own  life,  and  the  history  of  her  book,  are  minutely  and  care- 
fully traced.  Some  errors,  which  have  crept  into  Biographical 
Dictionaries,  are  here  intelligently  corrected.  It  has  often  been 
stated  that  the  volume  was  first  published  in  16-12.  in  this 
country,  and  the  English  edition  of  1650  is  named  as  the  sec- 
ond, and  that  of  1678  as  the  third.  But  the  more  critical 
testimony  of  the  volume  just  referred  to,  makes  the  English 
edition  the  first. 

Happily,  Mrs.  Bradstreet  did  not  live  to  read  the  remarka- 
ble eulogy  which  Mr.  Cotton  Mather  passed  upon  her,  in  the 
second  book  of  the  Magnolia,  in  his  article  upon  her  father, 
Gov.  Thomas  Dudley.  It  was  a  rare  opportunity  for  him  to 
show  his  taste  and  varied  learning.     Thus  he  discourseth: 

"But  when  I  mention  the  poetry  of  this  gentleman  as  one  of 
his  accomplishments,  I  must  not  leave  unmentioned  the  fame 
with  which  the  poems  of  one  descended  from  him  have  been 
celebrated  in  both  Englands.  If  the  rare  learning  of  a  daugh- 
ter, was  not  the  least  of  those  bright  things  that  adorned  no  less 
a  Judge  of  England  than  Sir  Thomas  More;  it  must  now  be 
said,  that  a  Judge  of  New  England,  namely,  Thomas  Dudley, 
Esq.,  had  a  daughter  (besides  other  children)  to  be  a  crown 
unto  him.  Reader,  America  justly  admires  the  learned  women 
of  the  other  hemisphere.  She  has  heard  of  those  who  were 
tutoresses  to  the  old  professors  of  all  philosophy  :  she  hath 
heard  of  Wppatia,  who  formerly  taught  the  liberal  arts;  and 
of  Surocchia,  who  more  lately  was  the  moderatrix  in  the  dispu- 
tations of  the  learned  men  of  Rome:  she  has  been  told  of  the 
three  Corinnas,  which  equalled,  if  not  excelled,  the  most  cele- 
brated poets  of  their  time,  &c.  *  *  *  But  she  now  prays,  that 
into  such  catalogues  of  authoresses  as  Beverovicius,  Hbitingt  r, 
and  Voetius  have  given   unto  the  world,  there  may  be  a  room 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.         181 

now  given  unto  Madam  ANN  BRADSTREET,  the  daughter 
of  our  govenour  Dudley,  and  the  consort  of  our  govenour  Brad- 
street,  whose  poems,  divers  times  printed,  have  afforded  a  grate- 
ful entertainment  unto  the  ingenious,  and  a  monument  for  her 
memory  beyond  the  stateliest  marhl.es." 

We  will  take  leave  of  Mrs.  Bradstreet,  with  one  brief  quota- 
tion more,  which  will  give  us  a  pleasant  glimpse  of  her  domes- 
tic relations.     It  is  addressed  to  her  husband  : 

"  If  ever  two  were  one,  then  surely  we ; 
If  ever  man  were  loved  by  wife,  then  thee; 
If  ever  wife  were  happy  in  a  man, 
Compare  with  me,  ye  women,  if  ye  can; 
I  prize  thy  love  more  than  whole  Mines  of  gold, 
Or  all  the  riches  that  the  East  can  hold; 
My  love  is  such  that  Rivers  cannot  quench, 
Nor  aught,  but  love  from  thee,  give  recompence." 

Pleasant  as  was  her  song  and  long  as  it  held  its  place  in  the 
estimation  of  men,  when  she  died,  at  the  age  of  sixty,  she  left 
behind,  in  her  family  of  children,  a  still  richer  legacy,  perhaps, 
to  the  world.  It  is  to  her  praise,  that  her  happy  hours  with 
her  pen  did  not  tempt  her  from  her  duties  as  a  wife  and  a 
mother. 

It  was  in  the  order  of  the  New  England  development,  that 
the  only  other  poet  of  any  considerable  note,  which  should 
appear  in  the  seventeenth  century,  was  to  follow  speedily  upon 
the  footsteps  of  Mrs.  Bradstreet.  This  was  Rev.  Michael  Wig- 
glesworth,  minister  at  Maiden  from  1656  to  1705.  His  father 
was  Edward  Wiggleswortb,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  New 
Haven  Colony.  The  son  was  but  seven  years  old,  at  his  com- 
ing over,  in  1638,  but  his  natural  aptitude  for  learning  was 
fostered  hy  the  famous  schoolmaster,  Ezekiel  Cheever,  who 
began  his  remarkable  career  at  New  Haven.  With  difficulty 
and  self-denial,  young  Wigglesworth's  father  gave  him  an 
opportunity  for  a  public  education,  for  which  the  son  showed 
a  devout  gratitude  in  a  beautiful  and  touching  tribute,  which 
he  penned  to  his  father's  memory.  He  entered  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  1647,  and  was  graduated  in  1651,  and  by  his  superior 
scholarship  became  a  Tutor  and  a  Fellow  in  the  College.  His 
longest  poem  was  entitled  the  "Day  of  Doom,"  which  first 
appeared  in  1662,  and  passed  through  eight  American  editions 


182         New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.  [March, 

and  one  English.  The  last  American  issue  was  in  1828.  Of 
course  there  is  nothing  very  cheerful  or  attractive  in  the  title 
or  in  the  matter  of  this  poem.  The  reader  might  suppose  that 
it  could  only  come  from  a  gloomy  mind.  But  the  author  was 
known  rather,  for  a  bright  and  happy  turn  in  his  intercourse 
with  men,  and  was  greatly  beloved  in  his  generation.  He  suf 
fered  much  from  ill-health,  but  bore  up  bravely  against  all  his 
infirmities.  He  died  on  Sunday  morning,  June  10,  1705.  Dr. 
Increase  Mather,  who  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  gives  this 
lively  picture  of  his  old  age : 

"It  was  a  surprise  unto  us  to  see  a  Little  Feeble  Shadow  of 
a  Man,  beyond  Seventy,  Preaching  usually  Twice  and  Thrice  in 
a  week ;  Visiting  and  Comforting  the  Afflicted;  Encouraging 
the  Private  Meetings;  Catechising  the  Children  of  the  Flock; 
and  Managing  the  Government  of  the  Church  ;  and  attending 
the  Sick,  not  only  as  a  Pastor,  but  as  a  Physician  too;  and  this 
not  only,  in  his  own  town,  but  in  all  those  of  the  Vicinity. 
Thus  he  did  unto  the  Last,  and  was  but  one  Lord8  Day  taken 
off,  before  his  Last." 

Besides  the  "Day  of  Doom,"  he  published  in  1669,  another 
little  volume,  entitled,  "Meat  out  of  the  Eater,"  which  passed 
through  five  editions  before  its  course  was  ended.  After  his 
death  still  another  poem  was  published,  entitled,  "  God's  Con- 
troversy with  New  England." 

All  these  publications  were  tinged  with  the  stern  Puritan 
spirit  of  his  time.  He  did  not  overleap  the  age  in  which  he 
lived,  but  wrote  in  harmony  with  the  prevailing  sentiments 
about  him. 

But  when  we  turn  from  the  subject  matter  of  his  poems,  to 
the  quality  of  his  verse,  we  find  the  gold  and  silver,  the  brass, 
iron,  and  clay  mixed  as  in  Nebuchadnezzar's  image.  In  the 
better  parts,  there  is  a  grace,  and  a  vigor,  such  as  we  do  not 
find  in  the  poems  of  Mrs.  Bradstreet.  A  stanza  like  the  fol- 
lowing, for  example,  shows  a  freedom  of  movement,  and  a 
poetic  ring,  hardly  to  be  expected  in  those  early  New  England 
days.     Tt  is  from  the  "  Meat  out  of  the  Eater:" 

"  Soldier,  be  strong,  who  lightest 
Under  a  Captain  stout ; 
Dishonour  not  thy  conquering  I  lead 
By  basely  giving  out. 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.         183 

Endure  a  while,  bear  up, 
And  hope  for  better  things. 
War  ends  in  peace,  and  morning  light 
Mounts  upon  midnight's  wings." 

It  is  not  difficult  to  discover  a  very  striking  contrast  between 
such  lines  and  the  following,  taken  from  "God  Controversy 
with  New  England."  The  poet  has  described  the  happy  state 
of  things  in  the  first  years,  in  which  he  seems  to  have  drawn 
somewhat  upon  his  imagination,  and  in  setting  the  doleful 
present  over  against  this  sunny  past,  we  find  such  stanzas  as 
the  following : 

"  Our  healthfull  dayes  are  at  an  end, 

And  sicknesses  come  on 
From  year  to  year,  becaus  our  hearts 

Away  from  God  are  gone : 
New  England,  where  for  many  years, 

Tou  scarcely  heard  a  cough, 
And  where  physicians  had  no  work 

Now  finds  them  work  enough, 
Now  colds  and  coughs,  Rheums  and  sore  throats 

Do  more  and  more  abound ; 
Now  Agues  sore  and  Feavers  strong 

In  every  place  are  found : 
How  many  houses  have  we  seen 

Last  Autumn  and  this  Spring, 
Wherein  the  healthful  were  too  few 

To  help  the  languishing." 

Notwithstanding  the  somewhat  remarkable  instances  of  Mrs. 
Bradstreet  and  Mr.  Wigglesworth,  we  must  insist  that  the 
early  New  England  culture  was  decidedly  practical  and  unpo- 
etical.  Not  that  there  was  any  lack  of  poetry,  so-called.  It 
marks  the  degeneracy  of  the  age,  that  so  many  of  the  public 
men,  thought  they  could  furnish  verses,  on  call,  in  English  or 
Latin,  for  almost  any  occasion,  sad  or  joyous.  Cotton  Mather 
has  admiringly  preserved  many  of  these  precious  morsels  in  his 
Magnolia.  Mr.  Jonathan  Mitchell  of  Cambridge,  was  a  man 
of  mark,  one  of  the  brighter  lights  of  his  time.  His  name  is 
yet  kept  in  living  remembrance  for  the  work  he  wrought  in  his 
generation.  But  when  he  tried  his  hand  at  poetry,  he  turned 
off  such  stanzas  as  these,  which  Mr.  Mather  has  carefully  kept 
for  us.  They  are  from  a  little  poem,  on  the  perfect  unity 
which  shall  prevail  in  heaven  : 


184         New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.   [March, 


"  And  though  we  be  imperfect  here, 
And  in  one  mind  can't  often  meet. 
Who  know  in  part,  in  part  may  err, 
Though  faith  be  one,  all  do  not  see 't. 


There  Luther  both  and  Zwinglius, 
Ridley  and  Hooper,  there  agree ; 

There  all  the  truly  Righteous, 
Saus  Feud  live  to  eternity." 


We  have  named  the  only  New  England  poems  of  the  Seven- 
teenth century,  which  seem  to  have  attained  to  the  dignity  of 
bound  volumes.  There  may  have  been  others  of  a  brief  and 
ephemeral  character,  but  we  have  not  chanced  to  find  any  ref- 
erence to  them.  In  the  absence  of  newspapers  and  magazines 
in  which  many  of  the  finest  poetical  productions  of  the  present 
day  first  make  their  appearance,  the  men  and  women  of  the 
early  times  who  desired  publicity,  had  often  to  resort  to  single 
leaves  or  small  pamphlets  in  order  to  get  themselves  before  the 
public.  Sometimes  doubtless  their  admiring  friends  took  this 
labor  off  their  hands.  In  many  cases  also  it  should  be  said, 
that  a  man's  poetical  effusions  often  remained  unknown  till  his 
death,  and  were  then  brought  forth  to  grace  his  memory. 

Let  us  then  wander,  somewhat  at  random,  over  the  years 
intervening  between  the  settlement  of  Plymouth  in  1620  and 
the  end  of  that  century.  Good  Gov.  Bradford,  of  Plymouth, 
left,  at  his  death,  a  little  manuscript  book,  in  which  he  had 
endeavored  on  occasions,  to  express  his  thoughts  and  feelings 
in  rhyme  and  measure.  He  could  not  very  well  write  any- 
thing that  would  not  be  found  sensible  and  instructive,  though 
it  was  hard  for  him  to  make  his  thoughts  flow  in  melodious 
verse.  There  is  no  poetic  charm  in  his  lines,  yet  they  are 
pleasant  for  us  to  read,  as  coming  from  a  man  occupying  the 
position  he  did,  in  our  New  England  history.  These  speci- 
mens of  his  muse  are  found  in  the  Collections  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society,  First  Series,  vol.  iii.  We  copy  but  a 
few  lines. 

"  Almost  ten  years  we  lived  here  alone, 
In  other  places  there  were  few  or  none ; 
For  Salem  was  the  next  of  any  fame, 
That  began  to  augment  New  England's  name ; 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.         185 

But  after  multitudes  begau  to  flow, 
More  than  well  know  themselves  where  to  bestow ; 
Boston  then  began  her  roots  to  spread 
And  quickly  soon  she  grew  to  be  the  head. 
Not  only  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay. 
But  all  trade  and  commerce  fell  in  her  way. 
***** 

"  But  that  which  did  'bove  all  the  rest  excel, 
God  in  his  word,  with  us  he  here  did  dwell ; 
Well  ordered  churches,  in  each  place  there  were, 
And  a  learn'd  ministry  was  planted  here, 
All  marvelled  and  said  :   '  Lord  this  work  is  thine 
In  the  wilderness  to  make  such  lights  to  shine,' 
And  truly  it  was  a  glorious  thing, 
Thus  to  hear  men  pny,  and  God's  praises  sing, 
Where  these  natives  wers  wont  to  cry  and  yell 
To  Satan,  who  'mongst  them  doth  rule  and  dwell." 

He  gives  us  also  a  primitive  picture  of  the  island  of  Shawmut, 
before  Winthrop  and  bis  company  took  possession,  and  even 
before  William  Blackstone  had  built  bis  solitary  house  upon  it. 

"  O  Boston,  though  thou  now  art  grown, 

To  be  a  great  and  wealthy  town, 

Yet  1  have  seen  thee  a  void  place, 

Shrubs  and  bushes  covering  thy  face  ; 

And  house  then  in  thee  none  were  there, 

Nor  such,  as  gold  and  silk  did  weare. 
***** 
"  We  then  drunk  freely  of  thy  spring 

Without  paying  of  anything  ; 

We  lodged  freely  where  we  would, 

All  things  were  free  and  nothing  sold. 
***** 

"  Live  ye  in  peace.     I  could  say  more, 
Oppress  ye  not  the  weak  and  poor. 
The  trade  is  all  in  your  own  hand, 
Take  heed  ye  do  not  wrong  the  land ; 
Lest  he  that  hath  left  you  on  high, 
When,  as  the  poor  to  him  do  cry, 
Do  throw  you  down  from  your  high  state, 
And  make  you  low  and  desolate." 

When  Gov.  Bradford  wrote  the  lines  last  quoted,  he  had  more 
thoughts  in  his  mind,  doubtless,  than  he  expressed.  Those 
were  not  mere  words  shaped  into  an  idle  exhortation.  The 
good  people  of  Plymouth  felt  a  little  neglected  and  overborne 
VOL.  III.  13 


186         New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.   [March, 

by  a  certain  pride  of  success  which  manifested  itself  about 
Boston,  and  which  often  showed  itself  in  a  kind  of  contempt  of 
their  humbler  neighbors.  Indeed  some  people,  at  a  distance, 
have  an  idea  that  Boston,  to  this  day,  has  never  entirely  gotten 
over  that  sort  of  feeling.  At  precisely  what  points  of  time 
Gov.  Bradford  wrote  these  poems,  it  may  be  hard  to  discover. 
Yet  there  is  internal  evidence,  showing  that  Boston  must  have 
been  well  under  way,  probably  not  less  than  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  from  the  foundation,  when  these  lines  were  penned.  And 
the  writing  could  not  have  been  many  years  later  than  this,  for 
Gov.  Bradford  died  in  1657. 

Another  Governor  of  Plymouth  Colony,  Josiah  Winslow, 
son  of  Gov.  Edward  Winslow,  wrote  some  lines  on  Gov.  Brad- 
ford, after  his  death,  which  are  more  harmonious  than  those 
above,  and  contain  a  just  and  honest  tribute  to  his  memory. 

"If we  should  trace  him  from  the  first,  we  find 
He  flies  his  country,  leaves  his  friends  behind 
To  follow  God,  and  to  profess  his  ways, 
And  here  encounters  hardships  many  days. 

"  He  is  content,  with  Moses,  if  God  please, 
Renouncing  honour,  profit,  pleasure,  ease 
To  suffer  tossings  and  uusettlements, 
And  if  their  rage  doth  rise,  to  banishments." 

When  Thomas  Hooker  of  Hartford  died,  in  1647,  it  stirred  the 
heart  of  New  England  deeply.  Hooker  may  perhaps  be  re- 
garded as  the  greatest  man  in  our  early  New  England.  There 
was  a  reach,  a  compass  to  his  mind,  in  which  he  was  unsur- 
passed by  any  of  his  cotemporaries  on  these  shores.  Peter 
Bulkley,  minister  of  Concord,  wrote  a  little  poem  commemora- 
ting him,  which,  for  those  times,  was  fitting  and  comely.  We 
give  but  a  few  lines. 

"  Sweet  waa  the  savour  which  his  grace  did  give, 

It  seasoned  all  the  place  where  lie  did  live. 

His  name  did  as  an  ointment  give  its  smell, 

And  all  bear  witness  that  it  savour'd  well. 

Wisdom,  love,  meekness,  friendly  courtesy, 

Bach  moral  virtue,  with  rare  piety, 
#  *  #  *  * 

'■  Deep  was  liis  knowledge,  judgment  was  acute, 

His  doctrine  solid,  which  none  could  confute. 

To  mind  lie  gave  lighl  of  intelligence, 

Ami  search' d  the  corners  of  the  conscience." 


1880.]      New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.         187 

John  Cotton  of  Boston,  who  came  nearer,  perhaps,  than  any 
other  New  England  man  of  that  day  to  being  ranked  equal  or 
above  Mr.  Hooker,  also  made  his  poetical  contribution  at  the 
time  of  this  sad  death.  Some  of  his  stanzas  are  certainly  not 
ungraceful. 

"  Zion  in  beauty,  is  a  fairer  sight, 
Than  Rome  in  flower,  with  all  her  glory  dight ; 
Yet  Zion8  beauty  did  most  clearly  shine 
In  Hooker3  rule  and  doctrine  ;  both  divine." 

"  Now  blessed  Hooker,  thou  art  set  on  high, 
Above  the  thankless  world,  and  cloudy  sky ; 
Do  thou  of  all  thy  labour  reap  the  crown, 
Whilst  here  we  reap  the  seed  which  thou  hast  sown." 

The  greatest  wit  of  those  primitive  times,  in  the  judgment 
of  our  fathers,  was  Nathaniel  Ward,  minister  of  Ipswich,  who 
wrote  the  Simple  Cooler  of  Agawam.  He  was  born  in  Haver- 
hill, England,  in  1570,  and  was  an  old  man.  not  less  than  sev- 
enty-five, when  he  wrote  that  pungent  piece  of  satire.  His 
thoughts  were  sharp  and  bright,  but  often  expressed  in  a  coarse 
and  unmannerly  way.  He  seemed  to  conjure  his  brain  for  odd 
words,  and  if  he  did  not  find  them,  manufactured  them  upon 
the  spot.  He  was  particularly  hard  upon  the  women  for  their 
style  of  dressing.  Take  the  following  as  a  specimen  of  his 
prose. 

"  It  is  known  more  than  enough,  that  I  am  neither  Nigard 
nor  Cinick  to  the  true  bravery  of  the  true  Gentry  ;  if  any  man 
mislikes  a  bully  mong  drossock  more  than  I,  let  him  take  her 
for  his  labour  :  I  honour  the  woman  that  can  honour  herselfe 
with  her  attire  :  a  good  Text  always  deserves  a  fair  Margent :  I 
am  not  much  offended  if  I  see  a  trimme,  far  trimmer  than  she 
that  wears  it :  in  a  word  whatever  Christianity  or  Civility  will 
allow,  I  can  afford  with  London  measure :  but  when  I  heare  a 
nugiperous  Gentledame  inquire  what  dresse  the  Queen  is  in  this 
week :  what  the  nudiustertian  fashion  of  the  Court ;  I  meane 
the  very  newest :  with  egge  to  be  in  it  in  all  haste,  wdiatever  it 
be  ;  I  look  at  her  as  the  very  gizzard  of  a  trifle,  the  product  of 
a  quarter  of  a  cypher,  the  epitome  of  nothing,  fitter  to  be  kickt 
if  she  were  a  kickable  substance  than  either  honour'd  or  hu- 
mour'd." 


188         New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.   [March, 

Mr.  Ward  went  back  to  England  in  1646,  carrying  bis  man- 
uscript with  him  and  the  first  edition  of  the  Simple  Cooler  was 
brought  out  in  London  in  1647,  where  it  went  through  several 
editions.  The  first  American  issue  was  iu  1713,  and  the  last 
in  1843. 

Thus  far  we  have  only  spoken  of  Mr.  Ward's  prose.  But 
he  was  a  poet  also  by  turns,  and  though  he  wrote  little  in  this 
department,  there  was  a  vigor  in  his  lines,  and  a  straight-for- 
ward rhythm,  unusual  in  New  England  in  his  day.  Near  the 
close  of  his  Simple  Cooler  are  some  stanzas  meant  for  King 
Charles,  whose  head  was  brought  to  the  block  two  years  later. 

1.  "  There,  lives  cannot  be  good, 

There,  faith  cannot  be  sure, 
Where  truth  cannot  be  quiet, 
Nor  Ordinances  pure. 

2.  "No  King  can  King  it  right, 

Nor  rightly  sway  his  Rod ; 

Who  truely  loves  not  Christ, 

And  truely  fears  not  God. 

3.  "  He  cannot  rule  a  Land, 

As  Lands  should  ruled  been, 
That  lets  himself  be  rul'd 
By  a  ruling  Roruaue  Queen. 

4.  "  No  Earthly  man  can  be 

True  Subject  to  this  State  ; 
Who  makes  the  Pope  his  Christ, 
An  Heretique  his  Mate. 

5.  "  There  Peace  will  goe  to  war, 

And  Silence  make  a  noise  ; 
Where  upper  things  will  not 
With  nether  equipoyse. 

6.  "  The  upper  world  shall  Rule, 

While  Stars  will  run  their  race  : 
The  nether  world  obey, 

While  People  keep  their  place." 

Peter  Folger,  grandfather,  on  the  maternal  side,  to  Benjamin 
Franklin,  wrote  a  somewhat  extended  poem  in  1676,  just  at 
the  close  of  King  Philip's  war,  entitled  A  Looking  Class  for  the 
Times.  He  had  been  for  many  years  associated  with  the  May- 
hews  at  Nantucket  and  Martha's  Vineyard,  in  their  work 
among  the  Indians.     Iiis   poem    is  a  plea    for  toleration  in  be- 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.         189 

half  of  various  sects  and  classes  who  had  suffered  persecution. 
It  is  a  very  crude  specimen  of  poetry,  as  a  few  stanzas  will 
show :  - 

"  The  sin  of  persecution 
such  laws  established, 
By  which  laws  they  have  gone  so  fur, 
as  blood  hath  touched  blood. 

"  It  is  now  forty  years  ago, 

since  some  of  them  were  made 
Which  were  the  ground  and  rise  of  all 
the  persecuting  trade. 

"Then  many  worthy  persons  were 
banished  to  the  woods, 
Where  they  among  the  native's  did 
lose  their  most  precious  bloods." 

The  whole  poem  consists  of  more  than  a  hundred  stanzas  of 
this  character.  Lie  had  removed  from  Martha's  Vineyard  to 
Sherbon,  a  place  in  the  island  of  Nantucket,  before  the  poem 
was  written,  and  hence  the  last  stanza  : 

"  From  Sherbon  town,  where  now  I  dwell, 
my  name  I  do  put  here, 
Without  offence  your  real  friend, 
it  is  Peter  Folger." 

Benjamin  Thompson  was  accounted  one  of  the  brilliant 
lights  of  the  early  New  England  days.  The  inscription  upon 
liis  tombstone  in  Roxbury,  testifies  of  him  that  he  was  the 
"  learned  schoolmaster  and  physician,  and  ye  renowned  poet  of 
New  England."  He  was  for  some  years  (1667-1670)  at  the 
head  of  the  public  school  of  Boston,  and  went  thence  to  Cam- 
bridge to  serve  in  the  same  capacity.  From  such  of  his  poems 
as  have  come  down  to  us,  it  is  to  be  conceded  that  he  gave 
more  polish  to  his  lines  than  some  of  his  cotemporaries. 
From  him  came  "  Our  Forefathers  Song,"  preserved  in  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  of  which  portions  have 
often  been  quoted,  and  of  which  the  following  are  a  few  lines : 

"  The  place  where  we  live  is  a  wilderness  wood, 
Where  grass  is  much  wanting  that's  fruitful  and  good, 
Our  mountains  and  hills  and  our  vallies  below, 
Being  commonly  covered  with  ice  and  with  snow  ; 
And  when  the  north-west  wind  with  violence  blows, 
Then  every  man  pulls  his  cap  over  his  nose, 
But  if  any's  so  hardy  and  will  it  withstand, 
He  forfeits  a  finger,  a  foot  or  a  hand." 


190         New  England  Poelry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.    [March, 

His  longest  attempt  at  poetry  is  entitled  New  England's 
Crisis.  It  was  written,  like  Peter  Folger's,  after  King  Philip's 
war,  and  he  finds  delight  in  contrasting  the  quiet  and  simple 
days  of  the  first  New  England  generation  with  the  sins  and  sor- 
rows and  confusions  of  his  own  times  : 

"  The  times  wherein  old  Pompion  was  a  saint, 

When  men  fared  hardly  yet,  without  complaint, 

On  vilest  cates  :  the  dainty  Indian  maize 

Was  eat  with  clamp-shells  out  of  wooden  trays 

Under  thatch'd  hutts  without  the  cry  of  rent, 

And  the  best  sauce  to  every  dish,  content." 

****** 
"  Not  ink,  but  blond  and  tears  now  serve  the  turn 

To  draw  the  figure  of  New  England3  urne  ; 

New  England8  hour  of  passion  is  at  hand, 

No  power  except  divine  can  it  withstand ; 

Scarce  hath  her  glass  of  fifty  years  run  out, 

But  her  old  prosperous  steeds  turn  heads  about, 

Tracking  themselves  back  to  their  poor  beginnings 

To  fear  and  fare  upon  the  fruits  of  sinnings." 

Urian  Oakes,  acting  President  and  President  of  Harvard 
College  from  1675  to  his  death  in  1681,  occasionally  indited 
bits  of  poetry,  which  had  more  grace  and  charm  in  their  struct- 
ure, that  was  then  common. 

The  following  stanzas,  from  his  pen,  were  written  to  give 
honor  to  Mrs.  Anne  Bradstreet,  for  her  book,  already  noticed. 
He  takes  the  same  style  of  verse  which  Mrs.  Bradstreet  had 
adopted  in  her  poem  entitled,  Contemplations,  but  he  uses  it  in 
a  more  free,  flowing  and  classical  way  than  any  New  England 
writer  of  those  early  generations  : 

"  To  Venus'  shrine  no  altars  raised  are 

Nor  venom'd  shafts  from  painted  quivers  fly  ; 

Nor  wanton  doves  of  Aphrodite's  car, 

Or  fluttering  there,  nor  here  forlornly  lie  ; 

Lorn  paramours,  nor  chatting  birds  tell  news, 

How  sage  Apollo  Daphne  hot  pursues 

Or  stately  Jove  himself  is  wont  to  haunt  the  stews. 

****** 
"  Here  silver  swans  with  nightingales  set  spells, 

Which  sweotly  charm  the  traveller,  and  raise 

Earth's  earthed  monarchs  from  their  hidden  cells, 

And  to  appearance  summons  lapsed  dayes ; 

Their  heav'nly  air  becalms  the  swelling  frayes, 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.  191 

And  fury  fell  of  ellements  allayes, 

By  paying  every  one  due  tribute  to  his  praise. 

"  This  seemed  the  scite  of  all  those  verdant  vales, 
And  purled  springs,  whereat  the  Nymphs  do  play; 
With  lofty  hills,  where  Poets  rear  their  tales 
To  heavenly  vaults,  which  heav'nly  sound  repay 
By  echo's  sweet  rebound  :  here  ladye's  kiss, 
Circling  nor  songs,  nor  dance's  circle  miss  ; 
But  whilst  those  Syrens  sung,  I  sunk  in  sea  of  bliss." 

This  is  all  liquid  and  sweet  and  softly  imaginative,  but  it 
puzzles  the  reader  to  gather  out  of  it  any  very  clear  and  con- 
nected meaning.  It  was,  at  least,  a  polite  and  gallant  tribute  to 
the  famous  poetess. 

President  Oakes  also  wrote  a  more  extended  piece  of  verse 
upon  the  death  of  Eev.  Thomas  Shepard  of  Cambridge.  He 
died  in  1677,  a  man  greatly  honored  and  beloved.  The  follow- 
ing are  the  first  two  stanzas  : 

"  Oh,  that  I  were  a  poet  now  in  grain  ! 

How  would  I  invocate  the  Muses  all 
To  deign  their  presence,  lend  their  flowing  vein, 

And  help  to  grace  dear  Shepard's  funeral ; 
How  would  I  paint  our  griefs,  and  succors  borrow 

From  art  and  fancy  to  limn  out  our  sorrows. 

"  Art,  Nature,  Grace,  in  him  were  all  combined, 

To  show  the  world  a  matchless  Paragon ; 
In  whom,  of  radiant  virtues,  no  less  shined 

Than  a  whole  constellation  ;  but  hes  gone  1 
He's  gone,  alas  !  down  in  the  dust  must  lie 

As  much  of  his  rare  person,  as  would  die." 

Of  all  the  New  England  books,  prose  or  poetic,  which  the 
Seventeenth  Century  produced,  the  palm  should  unquestion- 
ably be  given  to  Cotton  Mather's  Magnolia.  Odd  as  it  is, 
strange,  ridiculous,  outlandish,  as  it  often  is,  it  contains  such  a 
record  of  the  chief  men  and  the  chief  events  of  that  first  cen- 
tury of  our  history,  as  can  no  where  else  be  found. 

It  is  a  matter  for  wonder,  that  Cotton  Mather  was  not  a 
spoiled  child  from  the  beginning.  Graudson  of  Eichard  Mather 
of  Dorchester,  and,  on  his  mother's  side,  of  John  Cotton  of 
Boston,  son  of  Increase  Mather,  who  was  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  influential  men  in  the  Bay,  from  his  earliest  years 
he  was  flattered  and  caressed  as  an  infant  prodigy,  for  such  he 


192       New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.      [March, 

was.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  in  1678,  he  was  graduated  at  the 
college,  amid  such  pompous  praises  and  adulations  as  would 
have  turned  many  an  older  head  than  his.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen,  he  became  assistant  minister  with  his  father  at  the 
North  Church,  Boston,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  was  or- 
dained as  colleague.  The  next  year,  1685,  his  father  was 
chosen  President  of  the  College,  and  the  chief  care  of  a  large 
congregation  devolved  upon  the  son.  His  acquisitions  of  learn- 
ing, classical,  theological,  historical,  were  immense,  altogether 
too  immense  for  any  proper  mental  digestion.  He  was  only 
thirty-two  years  old  when,  in  1695,  he  commenced  work  upon 
the  Magnolia  ;  and  amid  all  his  multifarious  cares  and  duties, 
he  finished  the  task  in  two  years,  so  that  the  manuscript  was 
ready  for  publication  in  1697.  In  his  General  Introduction  the 
author  tells  us  :  "Now  of  all  the  Churches  under  heaven,  there 
are  none  that  expect  so  much  variety  of  service,  from  their 
Pastors,  as  those  of  New  England;  and  of  all  the  Churches  in 
New  England  there  are  none  that  require  more  than  those  in 
Boston,  the  metropolis  of  the  English  America  ;  whereof  one  is 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  committed  unto  the  care  of  the  un- 
worthy hand,  by  which  this  History  is  compiled.  *  *  *  *  If  I 
had  been  furnished  with  as  many  heads  as  a  Typheus,  as  many 
eyes  as  an  Argos,  and  as  many  hands  as  a  Briareus,  I  might  have 
had  work  enough  to  have  employed  them  all.  *  *  *  *  But  I 
wish  I  could  have  enjoyed  entirely  for  this  work,  one-quarter  of 
the  little  more  than  two  years,  which  have  rolled  away  since 
I  begun  it ;  whereas  I  have  been  forced  sometimes  wholly  to 
throw  by  the  work  whole  months  together,  and  then  resume  it, 
but  at  a  stolen  hour  or  two  in  the  day  not  without  some  hazard 
of  incurring  the  title  which  Goryat  put  upon  his  History  of  his 
Travels,  crudities  hastily  gobbled  up  in  Jive  months." 

Receiving  this  as  a  truthful  statement  as  to  the  time  and 
manner  of  its  composition,  any  one,  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  details  of  Mather's  Magnolia  will  confess  that  here 
was  a  piece  of  marvelous  industry.  No  wonder  that  the 
work  abounded  in  the  many  historical  and  biographical  mis- 
takes which  have  been  justly  charged  upon  it.  The  matter 
for  surprise  is,  that  such  a  work  should  ever  have  been  done, 
at  all,  under  the  circumstances. 


1880.]    New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.  193 

We  have  thus  referred  to  this  book,  not  that  in  itself  it  lies 
properly  in  the  path  of  this  Article,  but  because  it  furnishes  us 
with  an  illustration  which  is  germane  to  our  purpose.  We 
have  spoken  of  the  feeling  which  so  many  of  the  public  men  of 
that  day  had,  that  they  could  turn  out  a  piece  of  poetry,  on  call, 
for  almost  any  occasion.  Here  in  1697,  near  the  close  of  the 
century,  was  a  grand  occasion  for  the  gathering  of  the  bards, 
as  in  a  kind  of  poetical  tournament. 

Rarely  has  it  happened,  in  the  whole  history  of  authorship, 
that  a  book  has  been  ushered  into  the  world,  with  such  jubila- 
tions, such  sounding  of  "cornet,  flute,  harp,  sackbut,  psaltery, 
and  dulcimer,  and  all  kinds  of  music"  as  when  Cotton  Mather 
had  finished  the  manuscript  of  the  greatest  work  of  his  life.  First 
comes,  in  sober  prose,  "  An  Attestation  to  this  Church  History 
of  New  England,"  from  the  venerable  John  Higginson  of 
Salem,  already  eighty-one  years  old,  and  sixty  years  in  the 
ministry.  This  is  a  worthy  and  sensible  piece  of  writing,  with 
which  no  fault  need  be  found.  Only  at  the  end,  he  begins  to 
burn  incense  suited  to  the  occasion,  by  enumerating  the  New 
England  divines,  ten  in  number,  of  the  illustrious  race  of  the 
Mathers.  These  were  Richard,  founder  of  the  family  on  these 
shores,  and  his  four  sons,  Samuel,  Nathaniel,  Eleazar,  Increase, 
and  his  five  grandsons,  "  Cotton,  Nathaniel,  two  Samuels,  and 
Warham.  "Behold,"  says  he,  "an  happy  family,  the  glad 
sight  whereof  may  well  inspire  even  an  old  age  past  eighty 
with  poetry  enough  to  add  this."  And  so  he  draws  to  a  con- 
clusion, with  a  Latin  epigram,  in  seven  lines,  upon  the 
Mathers,  in  which  Cotton  stands  out  and  is  complimented  par- 
ticularly in  the  following  line. 

"  Has  inter  stellas  fulgens,  Cottone  Mathere." 

Next  comes  a  "  Prefatory  Poem"  of  about  three  pages,  from 
Rev.  Nicholas  Noyes  of  Salem,  colleague  pastor  with  Mr.  Hig- 
ginson. It  is  all  in  praise  "  of  that  excellent  book,  entitled 
Magnalia  Christi  Americana."     It  opens  in  this  way, 

"  Struck  with  huge  lore,  of  what  to  be  possest, 
I  much  despond,  good  reader,  in  the  quest; 
Yet  help  me,  if  at  length  it  may  be  said, 
Who  first  the  Chambers  of  the  South  display'd  ? 
Inform  me  whence  the  tawny  people  came? 
Who  was  their  father,  Japhet,  Shem,  or  Cham 


194      New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.      [March, 

And  how  they  straddled  to  th'  Antipodes 
To  look  another  world,  beyond  the  seas  ?" 

Later  on,  he  pays  his  addresses  more  directly  to  the  central 
figure  of  the  occasion. 

"  His  preaching,  writing,  and  his  pastoral  care, 
Are  very  much,  to  fall  to  one  man's  share. 
This  added  to  the  rest,  is  admirable, 
And  proves  the  author  indefatigable. 
Play  is  his  toyl,  and  work  his  recreation, 
And  his  inventions  next  to  inspiration. 
His  pen  was  taken  from  some  bird  of  light, 
Addicted  to  a  swift  and  lofty  flight. 
Dearly  it  loves  art,  air,  and  eloquence, 
And  hates  confinement,  save  to   truth  and  sense. 
****** 
The  stuff  is  true,  the  trimming  neat  and  spruce, 
The  workman's  good,  the  work  of  publick  use; 
Most  piously  design'd,  a  publick  store, 
And  well  deserves  the  publick  thanks,  and  more." 

Mr.  Noyes  also  adds  three  lines  of  Latin  poetry,  to  the 
"Reverendo,  Domino,  D.  Cottono  Madero,"  by  which  we  per- 
ceive that  he  has  a  different  way  of  turning  the  name  Mather 
into  Latin,  from  his  venerable  colleague,  Mr.  Higginson. 

Next,  in  order,  comes  Mr.  Benjamin  Thompson,  "the 
learned 'schoolmaster  and  great  poet  of  New  England,"  already 
brought  to  the  reader's  notice.  First,  he  showers  down  some 
Latin  Anagrams,  in  which  the  name  of  Mather  is,  at  one  time 
Maderus,  and  at  another,  Matherus.  In  the  Harvard  Triennial 
Catalogue,  when  the  word  occurs  as  a  given  name,  it  is  not 
latinized  at  all,  but  stands  in  its  own  integrity,  thus,  Mather 
Byles.  After  Mr.  Thompson  has  finished  his  Latin  fire-works, 
which  are  small  opening  pieces,  he  strikes  out  iu  a  short  Eng- 
lish poem,  of  which  we  quote  the  whole. 

"  Is  the  bless'd  Mather  necromancer  turu'd, 
To  raise  his  countries  father's  ashes  urn'd? 
Elisha's  dust  life  to  the  dead  imparts; 
This  prophet,  by  his  more  familiar  arts, 
Unseals  our  heroes'  tombs,  and  gives  them  air  ; 
They  rise,  they  walk,  they  talk,  look  wond'rous  fair; 
Each  of  them  in  an  orb  of  light  doth  shine 
In  liveries  of  glory  most  divine, 
When  ancient  names  I  in  thy  pages  met, 
Like  gems  on  Aaron's  costly  breast-plate  set ; 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.         195 

Me  thinks  Heaven's  open,  while  great  saints  descend, 
To  wreathe  the  brows,  by  which  their  acts  were  penned." 

We  shall  find,  as  we  go  on,  that  this  idea,  of  opening  the 
graves,  opening  the  heavens,  raising  the  dead  and  bringing 
them  back,  is,  in  various  forms  of  expression,  common  in  these 
high  songs  of  ovation. 

From  the  far-off  town  of  Hartford,  Mr.  Timothy  Woodbridge, 
minister  in  the  old  Hooker  Church,  sends  in  his  poetic  contri- 
bution to  swell  the  general  chorus.  After  an  opening  tribute 
to  the  early  New  England  fathers,  he  closes  thus : 

"  Such  were  these  heroes,  and  their  labours  such, 
In  their  just  praise,  Sir,  who  can  say  too  much  ? 
Let  the  remotest  parts  of  earth  behold 
New  England's  crowns  excelling  Spanish  gold, 
Here  be  rare  lessons  set  for  us  to  read, 
That  offsprings  are,  of  such  a  goodly  breed. 
The  dead  ones  here,  so  much  alire  are  made, 
We  think  them  speaking  from  blest  Eden's  shade; 
Hark  !  how  they  check  the  madness  of  this  age, 
The  growth  of  pride,  fierce  lust,  and  worldly  rage. 
They  tell,  we  shall  to  clam-banks  come  again, 
If  Heaven  still  doth  scourge  us  all  in  vain. 
But,  Sir,  upon  your  merits  heap'd  will  be, 
The  blessings  of  all  those  that  here  shall  see 
Vertue  embalm'd;  this  hand  seems  to  put  on 
The  lawrel  on  your  brow,  so  justly  won." 

Mr.  John  Danforth,  minister  at  Dorchester,  after  some  high- 
sounding  Latin  words,  by  way  of  personal  compliment,  fol- 
lowed by  a  Latin  Anagram  and  Epigram,  breaks  out  in  what 
he  calls  "A  Pindaric,"  which  is  remarkably  audacious: 

"  Art  thou  Heaven's  Trumpet  ?  s  are  by  the  Archangel  blown  ; 
Tombs  crack,  dead  start,  saints  rise,  are  seen  and  known, 

And  shine  in  constellation; 
From  ancient  flames,  here's  a  new  Phenix  flown, 
To  shew  the  world,  when  Christ  returns,  he'll  not  return  alone." 

Mr.  Grindall  Eawson,  minister  on  the  hills  of  old  Mendon, 
comes  forward  handsomely  with  the  following : 

"  To  the  Learned  and  Reverend 

MR.  COTTON  MATHER 
"  On  his  Excellent  Magnalia. 
"  Sir:  My  muse  will  now  by  Chymistry  draw  forth 
The  spirit  of  your  name's  immortal  worth. 
"  Cottouius  Matherus. 


196         New  England  Poetrg  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.    [March, 

Anagr. 
"  Tuos  Tecum  ornasti. 
•'  While  thus  the  dead  in  thy  rare  pages  rise, 
Thine,  with  thyself,  thou  dost  immortalize 
To  view  the  odds,  thy  learned  lives  invite, 
Twi.xt  Eleniht  Han  and  Edomik. 
But  all  succeeding  ages  shall  despair, 
A  fitting  monument  for  thee  to  rear. 
Thy  own  rich  pen  (peace,  silly  Momus,  peace  I) 
Hath  given  them  a  lasting  writ  of  ease." 

Last  of  all  we  have  two  pages  of  solid  Latin  Hexameters, 
from  the  learned  and  able  Dominie  Henry  Selyns,  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  ministers,  then  in  and 
about  ISTew  York.  In  the  Magnolia  his  name  appears  as  Hen- 
ricus  Selijns,  written  thus,  probably,  because  the  Latin  tongue 
has  no  letter  y.  Henry  Selyns  first  came  to  these  shores  from 
Holland  in  1660,  and  after  a  few  years  returned  to  bis  native 
land.  But  his  loss  was  so  much  felt,  and  the  desire  for  his 
presence,  among  the  churches  of  his  faith,  in  this  country,  was 
so  great,  that  he  came  again,  and  remained  till  his  death,  in 
1702. 

His  Latin  poem  is  full  of  learning,  and  was  doubtless 
regarded  as  a  master-piece.     It  closes  thus  : 

"Vive  Liber,  totique  orhi,  Miracula  monstres, 
Quae  sunt  extra  Orbem.   Coitone  in  ssecula  vive; 
Et  dmu  Muudus  erit,  vivat  tua  fama  per  Orbem." 

Now  if  all  this  had  been  a  kind  of  fourth  of  July  exhibition 
of  lire  works,  in  which  the  several  pieces  as  soon  as  discharged, 
should  throw  a  momentary  glory  over  the  occasion,  and  then 
pass  off,  in  smoke,  into  universal  space,  nothing  need  be  said. 
One  of  the  distinguished  literary  men  of  Boston,  of  the  pres- 
ent generation,  recently  received  a  complimentary  breakfast, 
when,  in  letters,  speeches,  and  songs,  the  saponaceous  article, 
used  on  all  such  occasions,  was  freely  and  generously  expended. 
That  is  all  well  enough,  according  to  the  tastes  and  customs  of 
this  world.  But  if  the  brighl  and  witty  recipient  of  these 
varied  testimonials  should  carefully  gather  them  all  up,  and 
publish  them  in  the  opening  pages  of  his  next  volume,  then 
the  time  woidd  come  for  a  free  use  of  exclamation  points. 
This   is   what   was  done   in  ease  of  Mather's   A/agnalm.     All 


1880.]     New  England  Poetry  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.         197 

these  swelling  lines,  in  prose  and  poetry,  in  Latin  and  English, 
were  taken  over  with  the  manuscript  to  England,  and  made 
their  appearance  in  the  first  edition  of  the  work  in  1702. 

That  was  an  age  of  pedantry  rather  than  poetry.  It  may  not 
have  occurred  to  Mr.  Mather  himself,  or  to  the  men  of  his  gen- 
eration, that  this  was  not  exactly  the  thing  to  do,  however 
ridiculous  it  now  seems.  But  notwithstanding  all  the  gro- 
tesque sentences  within  the  book,  and  in  spite  of  this  motley 
procession  attending  its  birth  ;  as  has  before  been  said,  it  is 
altogether  the  most  valuable  contribution,  in  the  department  of 
literature,  which  those  early  New  England  generations  made 
to  the  future. 

In  conclusion,  it  need  only  be  said,  that  the  aim  of  the 
writer,  in  the  poetic  selections  made  has  been  to  give  passages 
above  the  average,  rather  than  below.  Occasionally,  a  few 
lines  have  been  chosen  because  they  were  unmistakably  bad. 
But  far  more  frequently  the  care  has  been  to  pick  the  best  that 
met  the  eye.  In  the  plan  of  the  Article  we  stop  with  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  eighteenth  century  would 
present  a  much  broader  field  and  richer  materials,  especially 
toward  its  close. 


198  Edwin  Arnold's  Light  of  Asia.  [March, 


Article  III— EDWIN  ARNOLD'S  LIGHT  OF  ASIA. 

Tlie  Light  of  Asia :  or  the  Great  Renunciation,  being  the  life 
and  teaching  of  Gautama,  Prince  of  India  and  founder  of 
Buddhism.  (As  told  in  verse  by  an  Indian  Buddhist.)  By 
Edwin  Arnold,  M.A.     Roberts  Brothers,  Boston.     12mo. 

1880. 

The  little  book  before  us  has  been  the  object  of  warm,  and 
even  passionate,  admiration,  as  well  as  of  sharp  criticism.  In 
the  opinion  of  some,  it  is  an  epic  of  great  power  and  the  truest 
poem  of  the  century;  others  regard  it  as  a  string  of  pretty 
words  and  phrases,  covering  a  somewhat  fascinating  subject  in 
a  thin,  and  even  an  offensive,  way. 

It  is  difficult  to  assign,  upon  two  or  three  readings,  its  proper 
place  in  literature  to  a  book  whose  tone  is  so  fascinating  as  that 
of  the  book  before  us.  So  much  depends  upon  expression  for 
our  first  estimates  of  any  wrork  of  art,  that  it  is  unsafe  to  write 
down  at  once  among  the  permanent  things  a  poem  whose  music 
has  pleased  us.  Later  revisions  cling  less  to  tone,  and  form, 
and  color,  and  search  more  for  bone,  and  sinew,  and  strength, 
the  elements  which  look  to  eternity. 

One  cannot  at  once  get  past  Titian's  tints.  At  the  very  first 
reading  of  Lycidas,  its  flow  of  music  makes  such  sweet  charm 
in  the  ear  that  it  is  hard  to  hear  in  it  the  uttered  emotions  of 
eternal  feeling.  That  the  IJght  of  Asia  is  fascinating  in  style, 
any  one  may  easily  know  who  has  read  a  half  page  of  it.  It 
will  be  difficult  for  a  reader  who  has  before  him  two  hours  of 
leisure  when  he  takes  it  up,  to  drop  it  until  he  has  finished 
the  last  line. 

It  reminds  you  often  of  Moore,  and  even  of  Milton,  of  Titian, 
and  Fra  Angelico,  and  sometimes  of  Mendelssohn.  You  will 
find  the  color  charms  of  Lalla  Rookh,  but  the  sensuousness  of 
its  most  sensuous  themes  is  delicate  and  refined  beyond  the  pen 
of  Moore.  You  will  meet  the  landscapes  of  Claude  Lorraine, 
with  beautiful  lakes  shadowing  in  peaceful  hearts  more  beauti- 
ful  heavens,  the  tripping   flower  and    field   descriptions  of  Dr. 


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Websters  Unabridged 

NEW     EDITION. 

Now  added,  a  Supplement  of  over  4600  New  Words  and  Meaniugs. 

ALSO  ADDEDj  a  nbw 

BIOGRPHICAL  DICTIONARY  OF  OVER  9700  NAMES. 

A     X  A  TIO  N  A  L     S  T  A  X  D  A  R  D  . 

EBSTER'S  is  the  Dictionary  used  in  the  Government  Printing 
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WARMLY  ENDORSED  BY 

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PICTORIAL  DEFINITIONS.— For  the  great  aid  rendered  by  pictures  in  defin- 
ing, look  at  the  pictures  under  the  fol!  ids  iii  Wi  b  illustrating 
and  defining  the  number  of  words  and  tern 

Beef,  page  120 16     Eye.  p.  588, 11     Ravelin.]..  1089 u 

Boiler,  p   L48 17     Horse,  p.  639.    ...     ..45     Ships,  p.  1164,  1219,-110 

Castle,  p.  203 -I     Moldi  1 10     Steam  Engine, 20 

Column,  p.  253, 26     Phrenology,  p.  982,.    ..37     Timbers,  p.  1385,.   ...it 

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